Harriet Tubman

Born into slavery on a plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland around 1822 under the name of Araminta (Minty) Ross, Harriet Tubman escaped via the Underground Railroad when she was 27 years old. Shortly thereafter she began guiding other escaped slaves north to Canada, including several members of her own family in Maryland. Using St. Catharines, Ontario (near the U.S. border) as her base of operations, Tubman personally conducted 70 slaves to freedom and indirectly helped free 70 others, risking her life on many occasions. As a dedicated leader in the abolitionist struggle — a field generally dominated by men —Tubman served in the Union Army as cook, nurse and spy during the America Civil War.  In her later years, Tubman turned her attention to the rights of women.  She died in Auburn, New York in 1913.